Trump’s Saudi nuclear deal is making Israel uneasy
Source: Vox · Bias: Left
Summary
Last week, the Trump administration announced a landmark civilian nuclear cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia. The deal would allow the kingdom to develop nuclear power using American technology and could eventually pave the way for uranium enrichment on Saudi soil. But the agreement must first undergo congressional review — and survive President Donald Trump’s social […]
Trump’s Saudi nuclear deal is making Israel uneasy
Left
Last week, the Trump administration announced a landmark civilian nuclear cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia. The deal would allow the kingdom to develop nuclear power using American technology and could eventually pave the way for uranium enrichment on Saudi soil. But the agreement must first undergo congressional review — and survive President Donald Trump’s social […]
President Donald Trump erupted Wednesday following a surprise Iranian attack on a U.S. military base in Jordan earlier that morning, vowing to respond with a curse-laden threat.“We are going to beat the f------ s--- out of them,” Trump told Fox News, according to Trey Yingst. “We'll be hitting them hard, they're going to get a beating.”Following a brief lull in strikes between the United States and Iran, the U.S. Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan came under fire early morning Wednesday from a barrage of Iranian ballistic missiles. No casualties have been reported as of Wednesday morning.“So clearly, the United States is going to respond to what the president described as a 'surprise attack,' he says U.S. forces had just minutes to shoot down these incoming Iranian ballistic missiles,” Yingst said. “The president says he has reviewed video of the shoot down, and it was U.S. forces conducting this operation to defend that area. He said it was real time, they were calling out coordinates and ensuring that none of this incoming Iranian fire got through.”Iran’s Revolutionary Guard acknowledged it had launched strikes at the U.S. base, according to the Associated Press, setting the stage for another round of escalation between the United States and Iran.“Again, President Trump telling Fox News 'we are going to beat the f-ing S out of them,' and that U.S. strikes will take place against Iran in response to the surprise attack overnight against U.S. forces in Jordan,” Yingst said."We are going to beat the f****** s*** out of them"- Trump in response to Iran's suprise attack on US base in Jordan pic.twitter.com/aDuzi9j1bB— Alexander Willis (@ReporterWillis) July 29, 2026
President Donald Trump, not even halfway through his second term in office, is about to see his worst fear realized as he faces a reckoning within the Republican Party, according to a new analysis. The Atlantic analyst Jonathan Lemire argued this week that Trump has "crashed into reality" as he "flails" both internationally and domestically. "Recent months have delivered a reckoning for Trump, who has crashed hard against some real limits," wrote Lamire. "His approval numbers have sunk, and Republicans are finally, in small doses, beginning to defy him." The president predicted his war with Iran would be a quick surgical strike but it has now metastasized into a five-month quagmire with mounting casualties, depleted weapons stockpiles, and surging gas prices making him "just the latest U.S. president to be humiliated by hard-liners in Tehran," wrote Lemire.National policy has stymied as well. "Trump has demanded that the Senate blow up the filibuster to pass the SAVE Act, which would make voting more difficult and require voters to provide proof of citizenship," Lemire noted. "But Republicans have refused." Once the midterms conclude, Trump will face the grim future, he wrote."Trump could face his worst fear," wrote Lemire. "Irrelevance. He will be a lame duck, down to his final two years in office, and at some point will no longer be the nation’s top topic of conversation. As focus shifts to the presidential primaries, Trump risks disappearing from the headlines. Even some of his closest allies don’t know how he’ll react," he wrote.What comes next for Trump looks worse, Lemire wrote."Trump may no longer be among each day’s top stories—arguably for the first time since he came down the Trump Tower escalator more than a decade ago. It’s not as if he will suddenly vanish; he’ll aim to play GOP kingmaker, and he’ll still be commander in chief. But he’ll be staring at life as a private citizen again," he predicted.
WASHINGTON -- President Trump vowed Wednesday to "beat the f—ing s— out of" Iran in response to a surprise missile attack by the Islamic Republic targeting US troops stationed in Jordan.
President Donald Trump revealed new details Wednesday regarding a supposed phone call he had with former President Joe Biden following his 2020 election loss, one that he claimed was “well received,” but “not acted on.”Trump’s claim was couched in a lengthy rant shared on his social media platform Truth Social against Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases from 1984 to 2022. Trump downplayed Fauci’s influence during his first administration, while alleging that Biden later made the health official a “king.”“Fauci was largely taken out of play, and then along came Sleepy Joe Biden, who made Fauci a ‘King!’” Trump wrote. “I called Biden to tell him Fauci was no good, either didn’t have a clue, or was dishonest. The call was well received, but sadly, not acted on. Biden went on to give Fauci vast destructive power. The rest is history!”Fauci has come under renewed scrutiny after the publication of his COVID-19 pandemic-era diary. He’s scheduled to testify before the Senate Homeland Security Committee Wednesday, where he’s expected to be questioned on his knowledge of gain of function research and the origins of the COVID-19 virus.“His ideas were CRAZY! Also, I said from the beginning that the Virus came from the Wuhan Laboratory in China. Fauci strongly disagreed, always trying to protect China. I Inherited Fauci, who was there since the 1980’s, but with each passing day, relied less and less on him,” Trump wrote. “He made too many bad calls, like on MASKS. Remember at the beginning he was an anti-masker. He then switched to a super-masker. In any event I didn’t let him shut the Country down, although he wanted to. I went the Federalist way, and let the governors decide. The Republican governors did a much better job than the Dumocrats.”
A Republican trying to defend President Donald Trump's legacy was shut down on live television Wednesday with one simple question that he would not answer. The argument erupted on CNN Wednesday morning ahead of a contentious Senate hearing, when Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) will haul in his longtime bogeyman Dr. Anthony Fauci back to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee as part of his ongoing quest to determine the origins of the coronavirus. The Kentucky Republican posted online more than 1,100 pages of the physician's diaries written during the pandemic on government computers. Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright admitted he found the situation frustrating."What burns my biscuits the most is you have this political theater that will happen in the United States Senate today with Sen. Rand Paul, but there's no interest in the fact that you have the screw worm sending everyone on the run," said Seawright. "The fact that you see recall after recall and foods that basic everyday Americans are afraid to even deal with, and all the challenges that came along that come along with this current administration, and there's no sense of accountability in that regard."The Daily Signal's Rob Bluey tried to argue the hearing was more than political theater, saying it did address an issue that Americans cared deeply about."There will be fireworks today, I agree with you on that point," Bluey said. "But it's the role of Congress, in this case Sen. Rand Paul, to have oversight and hold this this government employee, former government employee who was paid $400,000 a year with our tax dollars and who lied to the American people repeatedly about the origin of Covid.""Respectfully, how do you know that?" Seawright interjected."Because it's in the diary," Bluey replied.Paul has long maintained that Fauci covered up evidence supporting the "lab leak" theory, and the senator's website highlighted a Feb. 1, 2020, diary entry covering a conference call with prominent scientists who Fauci noted had not all been in "total agreement" about the origins."This might not be the last time that the United States finds itself in a situation where we have a global pandemic," Bluey argued, "and holding that person accountable, getting answers, holding the CCP, the Chinese Communist Party, accountable for what its role was, and then think about all of the losses that our country experienced, not only in terms of jobs, but the schooling. I mean, I have kids, it affect my family's life profoundly."That's when Seawright posed the question Bluey would not answer. "Can someone remind me who was in charge when we were going through the Covid 19 pandemic?" Seawright said. "Because I think sometimes that gets lost in the conversation. Who was the president?" "Apparently, Anthony Fauci thought he was," Bluey retorted. "Well, who was in charge?" Seawright asked. "Who was the president?"Trump was in charge during Covid." - YouTube youtu.be
Retired CIA officer Marc Polymeropoulos responded to a recent assertion that President Donald Trump has made a U-turn on Ukraine as Russia continues to attack. Outgoing Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) this week complained from the Senate floor that Ukraine still hasn't received the $400 million appropriation Congress approved in 2025."I asked Secretary Hegseth why the Pentagon is taking so long to send this critical aid to Ukraine. He didn't have a good answer," said Durbin. "President Trump needs to send $400 million in funds immediately. They're desperately needed in Ukraine to stop Russian advances. Doing so will help bring President [Vladimir] Putin to the negotiating table. Secretary Hegseth also needs to move $200 million that we appropriated and president signed into law for the Baltic Security Initiative to help frontline NATO allies prepare for Russian intimidation and retaliation."Polymeropoulos said he's dubious about whether Trump has truly made such a shift in his stance on supporting Ukraine. The only thing that will convince him is "substance," he said," not just vibes.""Where is the 400 million?" he questioned of those cheerleading Trump's pivot. Reports this week revealed that Russia has sold off half of its gold reserves, Radosław Sikorski, the Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, said. Tymofiy Mylovanov, president of the Kyiv School of Economics and Ukraine's Minister of Economy, translated a recent interview with Sikorski, quoting the Polish leader as saying that Moscow has sold off 44 tons of gold. "It’s a sign Moscow is running low on resources. This winter may be Putin's last chance to break Ukraine, so Europe's help decides if Ukraine wins," said Sikorski. He added that he didn't see Trump swooping in at the last minute to win the war for Ukraine. Secretary Marco "Rubio's call with [Russian Foreign Minister Sergey] Lavrov lasted 37 minutes. I don't see grounds to expect a breakthrough from that. Real progress needs Putin himself to lower his ambitions about conquering Ukraine, and I don't believe that's happening," Sikorski said. "Russia keeps testing NATO's response threshold with provocations like drones crossing into member states' territory. Naming these as deliberate tests actually lowers the odds Moscow repeats them, since a provocation everyone expects can't deliver its shock," he added. Poland, he said, is ready to add "our own newest Patriot-class interceptor technology" to the fight, since U.S. support is up in the air.
Republicans in Washington are once again fighting each other, according to The Hill, as disagreements rage over President Donald Trump's new demand that they cancel their summer recess.For months, Trump has insisted that the Senate must pass the SAVE America Act, a bill that would impose strict new rules on voting and voter registration to address his long-debunked claims about widespread voter fraud. Senate GOP leaders, in response, have repeatedly stressed that the bill lacks the support in the chamber to overcome the filibuster threshold, leaving the party and the president in a stalemate.Traditionally, the Senate breaks for a summer recess at the beginning of August and does not return to Washington, D.C., for several weeks, with the departure being considered especially important during midterm election years, as it allows candidates seeking reelection to hit the campaign trail. Now, however, Trump has demanded that the Senate cancel its summer recess this year to both "debate the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act and advance a budget reconciliation package to fund the Iran war," according to a Wednesday morning report from The Hill."GOP senators are divided over whether to cut short the five-week break, which would take vulnerable Republican incumbent Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Jon Husted (Ohio) and Dan Sullivan (Alaska) away from the campaign trail," The Hill detailed. "They’re also at odds over whether to dive into what Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) warned would be a 'risky' attempt to pass a budget package that contains billions of dollars for an unpopular foreign conflict, as well as funding for farmers and election-related reforms."The report continued: "Looming over it all are the fast-approaching midterms and festering frustration among some Republicans about the curveballs being thrown by the president. Trump and his allies are pushing hard for the Senate to vote as soon as next week on a budget resolution to unlock the process to advance a $95 billion proposal drafted by the House to help cover the costs of the Iran war — even though Thune warned last week that such a proposal doesn’t have 50 Republican votes to advance in the Senate."According to sources within the party conference, Trump's demand that some or all of the August recess be cancelled to pursue these dicey and unpopular legislative proposals has "sparked a firestorm" among Republicans that could get ugly."It has the potential to blow up [the conference]," one anonymous Republican Senator told The Hill. “It’s a very divisive concept.”Other Republican senators are warning that the SAVE Act remains unlikely to pass and that cancelling the summer recess would not change that fact. In fact, the attempt "will only wind up disappointing GOP base voters when they fail to deliver" on Trump's demands.
We are now under 100 days until the midterms, and Republican strategists and GOP leaders have all come to the same conclusion for their caucus: keep Donald Trump's name out of your mouth, and ostensibly keep him off the campaign trail.Operatives close to the White House are reportedly telling incumbents and challengers alike — privately, one assumes, so the boss doesn't find out — to stop echoing his line on the Iran war, stop defending his economic numbers, and build their own case to voters instead.They'd be fools to attach themselves to him, even in some red districts where inflation has really come home to roost. Trump's almost “worst ever” approval rating is in the mid-30s and sinking. The war is closing in on half a year old, with no clean end in sight.Gas prices are up, "affordability" is the word Democrats have successfully claimed as their own, and every additional minute Trump spends talking is, by the party's own admission, a minute of bad news for candidates trying to get their messages through and survive in November.It all sounds reasonable and doable, except for the fact that one variable in this equation is petulant and predictable. When you tell Donald Trump no, or that he needs to be managed, nothing in the man's history suggests he knows how to do that.What's actually coming down the pike for Republicans isn't pretty and will make their plans look like chop suey. Does anyone say that anymore? Well, we can say it literally, because if Trump’s economic chaos continues, the only thing Americans will be able to afford to eat are cheap cans of chop suey.Trump is heading into the fall with a wish list that has absolutely nothing to do with food prices, reality or what's on voters' minds. He's obsessed with the SAVE Act, which is a loser in the Senate. He is still gunning for funding for his anti-weaponization fund, eager to provide updates about his gilded ballroom, and determined to sell the Iran war as successful when everyone, except he and Hegseth, knows it's a catastrophic failure.Standing between Trump and all of it is a small but real bloc of his own party. Jilted Sens. John Cornyn and Bill Cassidy have shown they're willing to buck him now that the chains are off after Trump sank their re-election hopes.Sen. Thom Tillis has already called parts of Trump's agenda "theater" and made clear he isn't interested in absorbing the blowback from ramming through election-law changes months before voters go to the polls.In the House, Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie is making it his life's mission to buck his party when it counts and say no. Individually, none of them can stop Trump, but together they can make his life miserable by blocking the SAVE Act, trying to rid the bill, once and for all, of the anti-weaponization funding, and denying him the permission and funds to keep the Iran war going.And that is exactly the problem, because a boxed-in Trump doesn't respond well to being told "no." Instead, he has a long history of reacting by getting louder, angrier, and, in his current demented state, more demented.In 1990, he opened the Trump Taj Mahal on a mountain of junk-bond debt after financial advisers warned him the numbers didn't work for the economy at the time. When an analyst went public predicting the casino would fail, Trump's answer was to fire the analyst. The Taj Mahal missed its debt payments within months and was in bankruptcy court within the year.And who could forget Trump's insistence on promoting his favorite drug, hydroxychloroquine, from the White House podium? After federal scientists told him, repeatedly and on the record, that there was no evidence it did anything for COVID-19, he took it upon himself to play doctor and tout the drug's nonexistent benefits.He kept pressuring regulators to protect its emergency authorization right up until the clinical trials came back and the FDA had to reverse course in public.And more recently, when military and intelligence officials warned that an open-ended bombing campaign in Iran risked a war with no exit, he launched it anyway, relying on his "gut instincts" and, most assuredly, his spoiled brat persona to try to prove he knew more than military generals.Being told "no" has never once made Trump smaller. It has always made him bigger, louder, and more determined to prove the people telling him no were wrong. And what's wild about the whole thing is that Trump has always been wrong, even though he thinks he's always been right, which is yet another reason why he will ignore the word "no."Each of the examples above shows that Trump takes the word "no" as a personal insult, and hearing "no" from his own party, which he built and claims to have rescued, is going to be too much for him to handle.He is going to hit back publicly, make it all about him, loyalty to him, and betrayal of him, and remind everyone watching that he is the one being wronged.While the GOP insists on message discipline on the campaign trail, off the trail it will be...
